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Let's pay tribute to the very first Hacker News thread about Bitcoin back in May, 2009 with this classic comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=599852 ht

Let's pay tribute to the very first Hacker News thread about Bitcoin back in May, 2009 with this classic comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=599852 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=599852 > Well this is an exceptionally cute idea, but there is absolutely no way that anyone is going to have any faith in this currency.

mmastrac 6y ago
In fairness, it's 10 years later and sentiment still swings back and forth.
- Taek 6y ago
  There is no question though that a lot of people have put their faith in Bitcoin. Misplaced or not, that original comment is wrong :)
  - ljf 6y ago
    I wonder what number of people actively use or hold bitcoin in any given month? Is there a dashboard for this and also transaction per month?
    - Taek 6y ago
      There's a dashboard for it somewhere and iirc something like 50-80% of bitcoins haven't moved in over a year.
- brink 6y ago
  I mean if full negative sentiment is at three thousand dollars a coin, it's really not that bad.
three_seagrass 6y ago
A decade latter and it's still a hobby currency. Price is not a sole indicator of faith in a currency.
- JxLS-cpgbe0 6y ago
  ETFs are a hobby?
  - three_seagrass 6y ago
    >ETFs are a hobby? Bitcoin is not a bundle of securities, nor is an ETF a currency. Why would you confuse the two?
    - JxLS-cpgbe0 6y ago
      I didn't. There are Bitcoin ETFs now and CME Bitcoin Futures now, as examples of institutional money invested that wasn't in 2017. Whales are holding, not trading, net inflow to NA is nothing like 2017. Just based on a hobby currency?
      - three_seagrass 6y ago
        Asset != Currency Being in an ETF does not make something a real currency. BTC is still hobby money.
        JxLS-cpgbe0 6y ago
        Which is why I never made either statement. GBTC has a $14B market cap. Do any Dogecoin ETFs? No? Then maybe BTC is more than a hobby. It's a serious long-term store of value people are increasingly using as a hedge. A serious currency with commercial and institutional investors. When you understand why Dogecoin doesn't have these things, you'll understand what a "hobby" actually is. > BTC is still hobby money. Can you post a single reason to believe that?
        three_seagrass 6y ago
        Again, being an asset does not mean something is a useful currency. You keep listing characteristics of assets, like existing in an ETF or having a market cap or having commercial investors. Those are not characteristics of currencies, which are widely accepted, engaged with, and in use by people and organizations in commerce.
3pt14159 6y ago
I mean, as soon as I read through the whitepaper I knew it was going to be valuable at least for a time. My primary reason for selling most of my Bitcoins at $200 a coin was that I thought it was obvious that the US would ban it. I made out like a bandit, don't get me wrong, but the fact that it's an accepted investment still boggles my mind. They shutdown eGold but not Bitcoin?! Crazypants. In retrospect, I think the primary reason they haven't is a real politik appraisal of the good crypto does to our cybersecurity. Finally attackers have a way to extract money from the entities they hack, rather than selling access or information to third parties. Even so, it still boggles the mind. It's so lawless and anarchistic.
- joshuakelly 6y ago
  There's still time for the course to change, you might prove right in the long run - the average Hacker News reader's parents weren't even alive when EO 6102 happened, which seems wild to us now. The threat of shutdown seems less pertinent than the threat of outright state seizure, similarly to EO 6102. EDIT: I meant of course our parents, not us - there might be a few 90-year old readers among us though :)
- AuryGlenz 6y ago
  I bought in late (at $79, so..) and not nearly enough because I knew eGold’s history as well. I then later lost some on btce. I suppose I should be happy that’s my biggest regret in life but this year in particular it really hurts every time I think of it. My business was hit hard by COVID and my wife and I started IVF after 3 years of trying. It’s crazy how a bit of knowledge can drastically alter your life.
  - ant6n 6y ago
    Yeah, it’s fun too think about how many bits of information being sent back in time to yourself would be needed to become a billionaire. The message should be understandable to your Younger self, and you also need to convince them.
- intotheabyss 6y ago
  I mean, eGold needed an intermediary so it was centralized. Pretty easy to shut down eGold. Not so for Bitcoin. Maybe the fact that it's still running is a testament to its decentralization?
mxskelly 6y ago
Not a single reasonable person I talk to has faith in the currency so I'd say they're right. I don't give a shit about lambos, nobody gives a shit about bitcoin as a currency and they never will.
mrits 6y ago
Since there is still widespread doubt I wouldn't put it in the same category as the early iPhone critics or even Facebook is the next Myspace crowd.
beezle 6y ago
The bitcoin faithful don't like to hear that having 'faith' is not the same thing as 'being in demand.' What you see now is not the movement of a currency (a stable temporary store of value) but the modern day equivalent of tulip bulbs (which are at least pretty when planted). Happy to revisit at a time when it actually behaves like a currency and can be readily and easily used as a substitute for one in everyday consumer transactions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusion...
simonebrunozzi 6y ago
What a nice find!! The author of that comment is Co-founder, CEO at Pachyderm (W15) pachyderm.io, and First employee at RethinkDB (S09). This goes to show that, despite you might be a smart individual like Joe Doliner, you can be absolutely wrong about the future. To be clear: I have a high opinion of Joe Doliner; in this particular stance, he was obviously very wrong about the future of Bitcoin. Like most other people.

mmastrac 6y ago

In fairness, it's 10 years later and sentiment still swings back and forth.

Taek 6y ago
There is no question though that a lot of people have put their faith in Bitcoin. Misplaced or not, that original comment is wrong :)
- ljf 6y ago
  I wonder what number of people actively use or hold bitcoin in any given month? Is there a dashboard for this and also transaction per month?
  - Taek 6y ago
    There's a dashboard for it somewhere and iirc something like 50-80% of bitcoins haven't moved in over a year.
brink 6y ago
I mean if full negative sentiment is at three thousand dollars a coin, it's really not that bad.

three_seagrass 6y ago

A decade latter and it's still a hobby currency. Price is not a sole indicator of faith in a currency.

JxLS-cpgbe0 6y ago
ETFs are a hobby?
- three_seagrass 6y ago
  >ETFs are a hobby? Bitcoin is not a bundle of securities, nor is an ETF a currency. Why would you confuse the two?
  - JxLS-cpgbe0 6y ago
    I didn't. There are Bitcoin ETFs now and CME Bitcoin Futures now, as examples of institutional money invested that wasn't in 2017. Whales are holding, not trading, net inflow to NA is nothing like 2017. Just based on a hobby currency?
    - three_seagrass 6y ago
      Asset != Currency Being in an ETF does not make something a real currency. BTC is still hobby money.
      - JxLS-cpgbe0 6y ago
        Which is why I never made either statement. GBTC has a $14B market cap. Do any Dogecoin ETFs? No? Then maybe BTC is more than a hobby. It's a serious long-term store of value people are increasingly using as a hedge. A serious currency with commercial and institutional investors. When you understand why Dogecoin doesn't have these things, you'll understand what a "hobby" actually is. > BTC is still hobby money. Can you post a single reason to believe that?
        three_seagrass 6y ago
        Again, being an asset does not mean something is a useful currency. You keep listing characteristics of assets, like existing in an ETF or having a market cap or having commercial investors. Those are not characteristics of currencies, which are widely accepted, engaged with, and in use by people and organizations in commerce.

3pt14159 6y ago

I mean, as soon as I read through the whitepaper I knew it was going to be valuable at least for a time. My primary reason for selling most of my Bitcoins at $200 a coin was that I thought it was obvious that the US would ban it. I made out like a bandit, don't get me wrong, but the fact that it's an accepted investment still boggles my mind. They shutdown eGold but not Bitcoin?! Crazypants. In retrospect, I think the primary reason they haven't is a real politik appraisal of the good crypto does to our cybersecurity. Finally attackers have a way to extract money from the entities they hack, rather than selling access or information to third parties. Even so, it still boggles the mind. It's so lawless and anarchistic.

joshuakelly 6y ago
There's still time for the course to change, you might prove right in the long run - the average Hacker News reader's parents weren't even alive when EO 6102 happened, which seems wild to us now. The threat of shutdown seems less pertinent than the threat of outright state seizure, similarly to EO 6102. EDIT: I meant of course our parents, not us - there might be a few 90-year old readers among us though :)
AuryGlenz 6y ago
I bought in late (at $79, so..) and not nearly enough because I knew eGold’s history as well. I then later lost some on btce. I suppose I should be happy that’s my biggest regret in life but this year in particular it really hurts every time I think of it. My business was hit hard by COVID and my wife and I started IVF after 3 years of trying. It’s crazy how a bit of knowledge can drastically alter your life.
- ant6n 6y ago
  Yeah, it’s fun too think about how many bits of information being sent back in time to yourself would be needed to become a billionaire. The message should be understandable to your Younger self, and you also need to convince them.
intotheabyss 6y ago
I mean, eGold needed an intermediary so it was centralized. Pretty easy to shut down eGold. Not so for Bitcoin. Maybe the fact that it's still running is a testament to its decentralization?

mxskelly 6y ago

Not a single reasonable person I talk to has faith in the currency so I'd say they're right. I don't give a shit about lambos, nobody gives a shit about bitcoin as a currency and they never will.

mrits 6y ago

Since there is still widespread doubt I wouldn't put it in the same category as the early iPhone critics or even Facebook is the next Myspace crowd.

beezle 6y ago

The bitcoin faithful don't like to hear that having 'faith' is not the same thing as 'being in demand.' What you see now is not the movement of a currency (a stable temporary store of value) but the modern day equivalent of tulip bulbs (which are at least pretty when planted). Happy to revisit at a time when it actually behaves like a currency and can be readily and easily used as a substitute for one in everyday consumer transactions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusion...

simonebrunozzi 6y ago

What a nice find!! The author of that comment is Co-founder, CEO at Pachyderm (W15) pachyderm.io, and First employee at RethinkDB (S09). This goes to show that, despite you might be a smart individual like Joe Doliner, you can be absolutely wrong about the future. To be clear: I have a high opinion of Joe Doliner; in this particular stance, he was obviously very wrong about the future of Bitcoin. Like most other people.